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 In a Times article entitled, As an Atheist, I Truly Believe Africa Needs God, reporter Matthew Parris explains why the reality of Christian mission work in Africa defied his atheist beliefs.
After visiting a poor village in Africa where British charity Pump Aid had provided a water pump, Parris begins: "It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities... It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God. Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts.
Hope Builders photoThese alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good." Parris continues in his op/ed to expound on his spiritual dilemma, listing the points of secularism he wants to embrace but was being challenged to confront, and sharing his eye-opening experiences in Africa. He also confronts the illogical Western practice of cherishing other cultures —despite of, and regardless of, their moral and ethical short-comings—to the point of elevating them above our own.
Concludes Parris, "Christianity...with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God...offers something to hold on to [for] those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates... A whole belief system must first be supplanted. And I'm afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete."
Read Parris' soul-searching op/ed in its entirety by following the link provided.
Used by permission www.breakingchristiannews.com / Source: Matthew Parris - The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece
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